Happy Easter! These are pictures of Sulham Wood, an ancient wood near our home. I often walk here with my husband. It’s especially beautiful this time of year with all the bluebells in bloom – a carpet of blue as far as the eye can see. According to the records, there have been bluebells in the woods at Sulham for centuries – these same plants blooming literally through the ages.
There have been artefacts from the Bronze Age found near here, as well as Roman pottery and coins, and Sulham is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Sulham is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘Gully Home’.
I wonder how many people have wandered through Sulham Wood over the years. I think about what their lives were like and what they thought as they walked where we walked today. Some may have been hunting – or even poaching. We almost always see deer on our walks. Some may have been courting, or even hiding. I am sure these trees have some stories to tell.
Why I Love Sulham Wood
For me, this is one of the most beautiful places I know. It changes through the seasons, and this time of year it is at its best, but it always has a kind of ethereal beauty that makes me feel closer to God. That is one of the reasons I chose to scatter my parents’ ashes in these wonderful, ancient woods.
I wonder if there were bluebells blooming here in Sulham Wood when Jesus walked the earth. It seems pretty likely. And although the woods have changed over the years, I wonder how similar it is today to what it was like then. I wonder if it looked like this the morning the stone was rolled away and Jesus walked alive from His tomb hundreds of miles away near Jerusalem.
We walked, and I wondered. And I was grateful – grateful for Life, for Hope and for Resurrection.
Hallelujah! He is Risen.
Wishing you and yours a very Happy Easter.
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